AIR FORCE ACADEMY — A few glimpses of what made Air Force men’s basketball a winning commodity in the recent past faded away Saturday behind TCU’s strong closing run.
Poor execution on offense and at the free-throw line proved costly as the Horned Frogs (12-6, 3-1 Mountain West Conference) won 57-54. TCU outscored the Falcons 9-4 over the last 4:14 to secure its first victory at Clune Arena in four tries.
Air Force (9-7, 0-4), which lost its fifth consecutive game, had not opened conference play with four straight losses since the 2000-01 season. The Falcons travel to Fort Collins for a Tuesday night game against Colorado State.
“Especially my being here during the winning streaks and going 43-5 at home in three seasons, it’s tough losing at home,” senior guard Andrew Henke said. “That’s our third or fourth loss at the end of the game. There’s such a small difference between winning and losing these games. It’s discouraging but also promising. It’s hard to let these fans down.”
With Air Force trailing 45-43, Zvonko Buljan, TCU’s leading scorer with 18 points, was hit with a technical foul. Air Force’s Matt Holland made both free throws and quickly hit a 3-pointer for a five-point play, and the Falcons had a 48-45 lead.
But the Falcons misfired twice coming down the stretch. Still leading 52-50 after TCU guard Jason Ebie’s circus shot while falling to the floor, the Falcons answered with a shot-clock violation.
“We executed our offense, but they defended it well,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “We weren’t able to get a shot. I don’t think that play had anything to do with it. There were a number of plays.”
And with 44 seconds left and the Falcons trailing 55-54 after a three-point play by Buljan, Air Force center Grant Parker, making his first collegiate start, missed two free throws. The Horned Frogs worked the offense and Ebie scored with 13 seconds left.
TCU (12-6, 3-1 MWC)
Buljan 7-11 1-3 18, Langford 1-4 3-4 5, Ebie 4-6 2-2 12, Ruzgas 3-11 2-2 11, Mitchem 2-6 0-0 5, Moss 2-2 0-0 4, Lancon 0-0 0-0 0, Butler 1-1 0-0 2, Ortiz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 8-11 57.
AIR FORCE (9-8, 0-4)
Henke 5-10 0-0 12, Holland 3-6 2-2 9, Parker 1-6 1-4 4, Washington 3-5 0-1 6, Johnson 5-9 8-9 19, El-Amin 0-0 0-0 0, Atkins 0-0 0-0 0, Noonan 0-0 0-0 0, Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Merriex 0-0 0-0 0, McLain 0-0 0-0 0, Schafer 0-1 4-4 4. Totals 17-38 15-20 54.
Halftime — TCU 32-27. 3-point goals — TCU 9-21 (Buljan 3-4, Ruzgas 3-10, Ebie 2-4, Mitchem 1-3), Air Force 5-13 (Henke 2-4, Johnson 1-1, Parker 1-3, Holland 1-4, Stewart 0-1). Fouled out — Buljan, Langford. Rebounds — TCU 23 (Buljan 11), Air Force 24 (Johnson 6). Assists — TCU 12 (Ebie, Moss 3), Air Force 10 (Henke, Washington 4). Total fouls — TCU 22, Air Force 13. Technical — Buljan. A — 3,197.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
